Thesis (Ph.D. (Information Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2009 / This research report serves as an empirical investigation into the utilization of information technology to support information and knowledge management in law firms, as well as an attempt to design an information and knowledge management model for law firms. Members of the legal profession attached to law firms in the Polokwane City were investigated to find out how optimally they utilize information and communication technologies to support information and knowledge management in their daily operations. The research indicated that there are several ways in which information technology could be used to support the creation, organization, and transfer of information and knowledge in law firms, for the benefit of both lawyers and their clients . In order to provide for an empirical basis for this research, a survey research method, through the use of the questionnaires and interviews, was conducted, followed by a detailed content analysis of law firm websites. An in-depth literature review on the utilization of information technology to support information and knowledge management in law firms was also carried out to determine the findings of other studies that have been conducted elsewhere on the current topic. The results of this research showed that lawyers attached to law firms in the city of Polokwane appear to be non-users of information technology in as far as information and knowledge management is concerned. Most of the members of the law firms in the city seem to be utilizing information technology for basic purposes such as word processing, legal research, client billing, and communication through the e-mail. Other information and knowledge management tools, such as intranets, extranets and web portals, appear not to be utilized by most of the law firms in the city. Based on the findings of this research project, an information and knowledge network model, in a form of Wireless Local Area Network for the law firms in the Polokwane City, is proposed. This network could be utilized by law firms operating in the city to deposit, organize, retrieve, and share information and knowledge collaboratively through the use of information technology. Factors that should be taken into consideration in attempting to implement the proposed model are also discussed. At the end of the research report, some recommendations on encouraging lawyers to utilize information technology optimally are provided, together with recommendations for future research.

This study explores the use of electronic information services (EIS) by students at the Howard College (HC) campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in the faculties of Engineering and the Humanities, Development and Social Sciences (HDSS). The objectives were to establish usage among students; identify determinants of usage and to make recommendations. To achieve these objectives, the study concentrated on answering these research questions: • Do UKZN students use library e-resources? • Which e-resources are UKZN students using? • Where do UKZN students access library e-resources? • Why do UKZN students use library e-resources? • What characterises non-users of library e-resources? • What barriers exist to the use of electronic information services (EIS)? A review of the literature identified a mix of quantitative, qualitative and combined methods used to investigate EIS usage. In various research studies, the variables considered to be determinants of use included age, status, discipline of study, subject content, computer proficiency, ease of use, availability and print formats in academic environments. The barriers experienced when using EIS formats, the adoption of technology and the usability characteristics of EIS were also important aspects evident in the literature. The methodology adopted was based on a pragmatic philosophical approach and sought to establish baseline data. A quantitative research design was used which set out to achieve the research objectives through data collection on two fronts. Firstly, the overall usage environment at UKZN was established by reviewing vendor usage statistics. The COUNTER compliant statistics for selected databases and e-journals were collected and analysed. As COUNTER statistics were not available for e-books, the statistics available from the vendors were used. Secondly, a stratified, random sample of students on the HC campus was surveyed by means of an online questionnaire. A response rate of 22.5% was achieved. Data collected established the characteristics of users; whether they made use of e-books, e-journals and databases; where they used them and how often; why they made use of them; and what barriers and problems they experienced when using them. Data from non-users was also solicited. Data is presented in graphs and frequency tables. The Chi-square test was applied to establish significant associations between variables and these results are produced in contingency tables. The findings established that EIS are used by students and usage fluctuates during the course of the academic year with peaks occurring in each semester and low points during the vacation periods. e-Journals and databases are used more than ebooks, while postgraduate students use EIS most. Non-users made up almost a third iv of the sample; while habitual, frequent and infrequent users were reflected in almost equal numbers among those who use EIS. Age, gender or discipline of study were not in evidence as determinants of use. Students undertake searches mainly from computers in the LANs but off-campus computers are also used, which highlights the importance of remote access. The library website is most often the starting point for navigation, although search engines are also popular as a virtual starting point. Locating information was the prime motivation to use EIS, and students largely rated the EIS they used as good or excellent. Barriers were experienced by as many as 37% of users who reported that the non-availability of EIS was the main problem, although they experienced other difficulties. In concluding, issues of library service delivery and recommendations regarding usage are made. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-02T11:16:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014Bitstream added on 2014-12-02T11:21:14Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000799766.pdf: 970445 bytes, checksum: 24e0b02edbfba64d99a510140148eec1 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Os conceitos de Estudos de Usuários, sua discussão e difusão por meio do ensino, é a temática desta tese para tornar evidente como eles são identificados e analisados pelos docentes que lecionam a disciplina de estudos de usuários nos cursos de Biblioteconomia das universidades brasileiras. Por meio deles, saber como estão sendo trabalhados, em sala de aula, os seus diálogos com outras áreas e com os teóricos que permeiam a produção científica, no contexto do ensino de Biblioteconomia. Tem o objetivo de identificar e analisar esses conceitos e, como eles são percebidos, expostos, assimilados e reproduzidos na prática docente. Mostra um panorama nacional representado por aqueles cursos que participaram da pesquisa com o intuito de repensar e averiguar como a temática se desenvolve no âmbito da Ciência da Informação. Alguns pesquisadores fortaleceram o suporte teórico fundamentador dos estudos na área da Ciência da Informação, pelas abordagens descritas, preferencialmente, por Brenda Dervin, Ellis, Wilson, Khulthau, Choo, Araújo, Figueiredo e Ferreira; na leitura de capítulos de livros, de artigos de periódicos, além de dissertações de mestrado e de teses de doutorado sobre o tema, e que nos situaram o estado da arte acerca do objeto de estudo. Definimos como percurso metodológico a análise de conteúdo, segundo Bardin, realizando pesquisa descritiva qualitativa. Foi solicitado aos docentes, em apreço, inicialmente os planos de ensino da disciplina com seus diversos componentes e, no segundo momento, o questionário. Este dividido em duas partes, sendo uma com a caracterização do docente e, a outra, com nove questões abertas sobre o ensino. Foi aplicado o pré-teste do questionário, quando se constatou a necessidade de modificação de algumas indagações, refeitas de imediato. Os planos de ensino foram examinados, conjuntamente, com as respostas dos questionários e, a partir dos conceitos emitidos pelos... / The concepts of user studies, their discussion and dissemination through teaching is the subject matter approached in this thesis to make clear how they are identified and analyzed by the professors who teach this discipline in Librarianship courses in Brazilian universities. Through them, to know how they are being worked on in the classroom, their dialogues with other areas and with the theoreticians who permeate the scientific production in the context of librarianship teaching. It aims to identify and analyze these concepts and how they are perceived, exposed, assimilated and reproduced in the teaching practice. It shows a national panorama represented by those courses that participated in the survey with the intention of rethinking and examining how the issue has been developed within Information Science. Some researchers have strengthened underlying theoretical support of studies in the field of Information Science, the approaches described, preferably by Brenda Dervin, Ellis, Wilson, Khulthau, Choo, Araújo, Figueiredo and Ferreira; in the reading of book chapters , journal articles and dissertations as well as doctoral theses on the subject , which stood in the state of art in the object of study . We define as a methodological approach the content analysis according to Bardin, conducting a qualitative descriptive research. It was required to the teachers in question, initially, plans to teach the subject with its various components and secondly, the questionnaire. The latter was divided into two parts, being one of them with the characterization of the teacher and the other one with nine open questions on teaching issues. It was assigned a pretest of the questionnaire when it was found to be necessary to modify some questions, immediately redone. The lesson plans were examined, together with the responses of the questionnaires and from the concepts expressed by the professors, as the constituent items of the...

Orientador: Oswaldo Francisco de Almeida Júnior / Banca: Carlos Alberto Ávila Araújo / Banca: Lídia Eugênia Cavalcante / Banca: Sueli Bortolin / Banca: Regina Célia Baptista Belluzzo / Resumo: Os conceitos de Estudos de Usuários, sua discussão e difusão por meio do ensino, é a temática desta tese para tornar evidente como eles são identificados e analisados pelos docentes que lecionam a disciplina de estudos de usuários nos cursos de Biblioteconomia das universidades brasileiras. Por meio deles, saber como estão sendo trabalhados, em sala de aula, os seus diálogos com outras áreas e com os teóricos que permeiam a produção científica, no contexto do ensino de Biblioteconomia. Tem o objetivo de identificar e analisar esses conceitos e, como eles são percebidos, expostos, assimilados e reproduzidos na prática docente. Mostra um panorama nacional representado por aqueles cursos que participaram da pesquisa com o intuito de repensar e averiguar como a temática se desenvolve no âmbito da Ciência da Informação. Alguns pesquisadores fortaleceram o suporte teórico fundamentador dos estudos na área da Ciência da Informação, pelas abordagens descritas, preferencialmente, por Brenda Dervin, Ellis, Wilson, Khulthau, Choo, Araújo, Figueiredo e Ferreira; na leitura de capítulos de livros, de artigos de periódicos, além de dissertações de mestrado e de teses de doutorado sobre o tema, e que nos situaram o estado da arte acerca do objeto de estudo. Definimos como percurso metodológico a análise de conteúdo, segundo Bardin, realizando pesquisa descritiva qualitativa. Foi solicitado aos docentes, em apreço, inicialmente os planos de ensino da disciplina com seus diversos componentes e, no segundo momento, o questionário. Este dividido em duas partes, sendo uma com a caracterização do docente e, a outra, com nove questões abertas sobre o ensino. Foi aplicado o pré-teste do questionário, quando se constatou a necessidade de modificação de algumas indagações, refeitas de imediato. Os planos de ensino foram examinados, conjuntamente, com as respostas dos questionários e, a partir dos conceitos emitidos pelos... / Abstract: The concepts of user studies, their discussion and dissemination through teaching is the subject matter approached in this thesis to make clear how they are identified and analyzed by the professors who teach this discipline in Librarianship courses in Brazilian universities. Through them, to know how they are being worked on in the classroom, their dialogues with other areas and with the theoreticians who permeate the scientific production in the context of librarianship teaching. It aims to identify and analyze these concepts and how they are perceived, exposed, assimilated and reproduced in the teaching practice. It shows a national panorama represented by those courses that participated in the survey with the intention of rethinking and examining how the issue has been developed within Information Science. Some researchers have strengthened underlying theoretical support of studies in the field of Information Science, the approaches described, preferably by Brenda Dervin, Ellis, Wilson, Khulthau, Choo, Araújo, Figueiredo and Ferreira; in the reading of book chapters , journal articles and dissertations as well as doctoral theses on the subject , which stood in the state of art in the object of study . We define as a methodological approach the content analysis according to Bardin, conducting a qualitative descriptive research. It was required to the teachers in question, initially, plans to teach the subject with its various components and secondly, the questionnaire. The latter was divided into two parts, being one of them with the characterization of the teacher and the other one with nine open questions on teaching issues. It was assigned a pretest of the questionnaire when it was found to be necessary to modify some questions, immediately redone. The lesson plans were examined, together with the responses of the questionnaires and from the concepts expressed by the professors, as the constituent items of the... / Doutor

The study investigated the effect of accessibility and utilization of electronic resources by academic staff on productivity at the University of Calabar and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. In order to determine the effect of accessibility and utilization of e-resources on productivity of academic staff, a lone hypothesis was formulated thus: there is no significant correlation between accessibility and utilization of e-resources and productivity of academic staff in Nigerian universities. The study adopted quantitative approach as research paradigm; with survey and bibliometrics as research methods. Questionnaire was used as the primary instrument for data collection on accessibility and utilization of e-resources and productivity of academic staff in the study. The population of 2035 academic staff and sample size of 586 academic staff were used for the study, and a response rate of 55.29% was obtained for data analysis. The data for the study were analysed with SPSS. The finding of the study revealed that there is significant correlation between accessibility and utilization of e-resources and productivity of academic staff at the surveyed universities (r=0.135; p=0.004), especially at the level of international publication (r=0.158; p=0.004). The study concluded that there is a positive effect due to accessibility and utilization of e-resources on productivity at the surveyed universities. Further findings of the study revealed a low level of electronic information environment at the surveyed universities in relation to global practices; although, the University of Ibadan was found to have a better electronic information environment than the University of Calabar. The result from questionnaire survey revealed that the University of Calabar was more productive than the University of Ibadan; the converse was obtained with bibliometric analysis as the University of Ibadan was found to be more productive than the University of Calabar. From the findings of the study the influence of demographic variables (discipline, gender, age, education and professional rank) on accessibility and utilization of e-resources was not significant at the surveyed universities. The study recommended increased investment in ICT facilities at the surveyed universities to promote increase in accessibility and utilization of e-resources by academic staff in research. / Information Science / D.Litt et. Phil. (Information Science)

The study investigated the effect of accessibility and utilization of electronic resources by academic staff on productivity at the University of Calabar and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. In order to determine the effect of accessibility and utilization of e-resources on productivity of academic staff, a lone hypothesis was formulated thus: there is no significant correlation between accessibility and utilization of e-resources and productivity of academic staff in Nigerian universities. The study adopted quantitative approach as research paradigm; with survey and bibliometrics as research methods. Questionnaire was used as the primary instrument for data collection on accessibility and utilization of e-resources and productivity of academic staff in the study. The population of 2035 academic staff and sample size of 586 academic staff were used for the study, and a response rate of 55.29% was obtained for data analysis. The data for the study were analysed with SPSS. The finding of the study revealed that there is significant correlation between accessibility and utilization of e-resources and productivity of academic staff at the surveyed universities (r=0.135; p=0.004), especially at the level of international publication (r=0.158; p=0.004). The study concluded that there is a positive effect due to accessibility and utilization of e-resources on productivity at the surveyed universities. Further findings of the study revealed a low level of electronic information environment at the surveyed universities in relation to global practices; although, the University of Ibadan was found to have a better electronic information environment than the University of Calabar. The result from questionnaire survey revealed that the University of Calabar was more productive than the University of Ibadan; the converse was obtained with bibliometric analysis as the University of Ibadan was found to be more productive than the University of Calabar. From the findings of the study the influence of demographic variables (discipline, gender, age, education and professional rank) on accessibility and utilization of e-resources was not significant at the surveyed universities. The study recommended increased investment in ICT facilities at the surveyed universities to promote increase in accessibility and utilization of e-resources by academic staff in research. / Information Science / D.Litt et. Phil. (Information Science)

The research reflected here examined in depth how one cohort of learners viewed and engaged in literature searches using web browser based resources. Action research was employed using a mixed methods approach. The research started with a survey followed by interviews and a screencast examining practice based on a series of search related exercises. These were analysed and used as data to establish what deficits in using the web to search for literature existed in the target group. Based on the analysis of these instruments, the problem was redefined and a workshop intended to help remediate deficiencies uncovered was run. Based on this a recommendation is made that a credit bearing course teaching digital research literacy be made available which would include information literacy as a component. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

During the 21st century, electronic resources have become an important component in every sector of society and the academic sector is no exception. Academic libraries worldwide have adopted the technologies involved in electronic resources, with some replacing their traditional collections with e-resources, which are more accessible by users. This study was conducted at the University of South Africa (Unisa) and was aimed at investigating the levels of awareness and usage of e-resources by third-year students in the School of Arts. The study used the descriptive survey study design, which is quantitative in approach. The target population comprised of 5 377 third-year students enrolled in the seven departments in the School of Arts and a proportional sample of 360 students was drawn from the population by using stratified random sampling. Library staff was also included in the study, in order to determine students’ usage patterns of e-resources and to establish initiatives available at the Unisa Library to increase awareness and use of e-resources. Online questionnaires distributed via Survey Monkey were used as the data collection instrument. The study established that the Unisa Library subscribes to a wide range of e-resources and has a number of initiatives in place to encourage the awareness and usage of these resources. However, 50, 3% of the student respondents were unaware of the availability of Unisa e-resources. The study also established that the majority of students use e-resources for study and research and that, although they have basic information and communication technologies (ICTs) skills, the majority of students lack advanced information search and retrieval skills, which are required to utilise e-resources properly. The four main barriers that prevent students from accessing and using e-resources were the cost of access to the internet, unavailability of relevant literature for studies, lack of time to do online searches and preference for information freely available on the internet. To encourage increased awareness and use of e-resources, the study recommend the development of an e-resources marketing strategy, the introduction of an information literacy module for all first-year students, the provision of infrastructure and technologies for access, development of specialised library assistance services, balancing of the electronic library collections across different subjects, tutors including more e-resources references in study guides and tutorial letters and hiring of more library staff. The study concludes that the Unisa Library has a wide variety of electronic library resources and services needed in academic institutions, but awareness and usage of the resources is quite low, due to several factors highlighted in the study. Therefore, the Library should step forward and ensure that the resources are fully utilised by following the recommendations suggested in the study. / Information Science / M. Inf.